Improvement in cotton-gins



W. Y. LAYTON'. Cotton Gin.

No; 6,463. Patented May 22, 1849.

N. PETERS l'hoxouim hcr. Washington. D. c.

UNITED STATES ATENT Fries IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-GINS.

Specification forming part of Letters To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, 7M. Y. LAYTON, of Darlington, in the district ofDarlington and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and usefulmachine for separating the lint or cotton-wool from the seed oflong-staple, Scaisland, or other cotton, called the Self-Leveling RollerCotton-Grim and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,reference being had to the annexed drawings of the same, making part ofthis specification.

Figure 1 is atop view; Fig. 2, a transverse section on the line a; x ofFig. 1.

To enable othersskilled in the art to make use of my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct a frame, A,to hold the machinery.

of my self-leveling roller-gin, out of seantling of wood or othersuitable material, making the superficies of said frame about forty-fourinches long, twenty inches broad, and thirty inches high, square, or ofany convenient size and proportion. The roll-boxes Care of metal, thenumber depending on the size of the roll and the kind of power to beused. The outside boxes are pieces of metal intended to hold the rolls,and are screwed down to the side pieces, so that the indentation of thebox shall be in the center of said piece. The inside bottom boxes, 0,are metal indented at one end to hold the roll, with two verticalpieces, D d, at right angles to the plane of box and parallel to eachother, intended to keep the cotton from getting into or between the rolland box. The bar of metal (one end of which is intended, as beforespecified, to be called the box-bar terminates in a screw, 0, withdouble taps E c, and is inserted horizontally through the back top rail,one of its taps, e, acting as a shoulder to the other tap, E, therebyenabling the operator (by screwing said taps) to make the boxescoincide; and a vertical bolt having double taps G 9, said bolt beingriveted through the box-bar 0 near the box, or where the pressure of therolls H h is, the screw end passing through one of the transverse piecesof the frame, and the taps G g acting in the same way as in the bar tomake the boxes horizontal. Each of the box-bars Oare about nine incheslong, three inches of which is the Equidistant between the horizontalbolt 0 Patent No. 6,463, dated May 2-2, 1849.

indentation of the box and the termination of screw is a hole throughwhich a screw-bolt, I, is put to clamp the top box, K, on the top roll,h, to bring the rolls H h to the required pressure. At the screw end isa pivot, L, that holds the top box, K, to its place, and acts as a hingewhen the rolls have to be taken out. The top inside boxes or clamps, K,are six inches long, indented at one end to fit top roll, h, and theother end has a hole large enough to fit the pivot L of bottom box-bar.

Equidistant between the indentation for the top roll, h, and perl'bratedhole for pivot the one above described in bottom box-bar, through whichthe clamp-bolt I passes to 0011- fine the rolls (by the screw-tap 'i onthe top end) together. The tightening the screw-taps 1' makes the topbox, K, press 011 the rolls, so that the lint of the cotton wool will.pass through and leave the seed behind. The side clamps, M, are wood,andhave a box of metal, N, indented to fit the top roll, screwed on thebottom of said clamp and terminating in a tapped, (as the inside bottomboxes,) and are fastened through the back top rail, and so hinged,asaforesaid, that they fold back when the rolls are to be taken out, andare clamped down on the rolls by a bolt, Q, and screw-tap B, so as to betightened at the will of the op erator. The wood side clamps have agroove just over the indentation of box, to hold a brush, S, to keep thecotton from winding or lapping round the top roll. A strip of wood, Sabout six inches broad, and of a length to suit the size of gin, has thebrushes S in it, and is made to slide in the grooves of the side clamps,M, so that the brushes shall. press on the top roll. There is a similarbrush, T, placed under the bottom roll, H, to clean it, at anyconvenient angle and of any size. The journals U, that drive the rolls,may or may not have fly-wheels. They are ten inches long, with a bearingat each end of two and one-half inches. There is a pulley, V, ofconvenient size and thickness, and a fly-wheel, WV, (if great executionwith. little power is required,) nearest the inside or roll end or themachine, with a chuek or crank, X, at the same end to catch against thedog Y, through which the roll H passes, so that when the journal turnsthe roll H has to turn also.

or hinge is another orifice coinciding with hinge, 0, connected with ascrew, P, double The chuck X is a circular cap of metal three inchesdiameter, one and a half inch long, and has a groove through it, so thatthe dog or double tail-pieces on the rolls H It may be inserted in it.The rolls H h are any con venient size and length, from three-fourths ofan inch to one inch diameter. The length depends on the power, smallpower requiring short rolls. They have a dog, Y, or tail-piece threeinches long with a square hole in the center, through which the roll isfastened,and of suflicient size to give strength. The square of themlongitudinally is one inch, except in the center, which is one-halfinch, and the hole in the center is five-eighths inch if the roll isseven-eighths inch diameter. The numher of rollersis two for one gin. Ifmore than one gin in astand is run, each will have two rolls. Thepulleys or journals have a band round them communicating with a wheel onthe main cylinder. The motion of the rolls is transverse to each other,and such motion is got by crossing the band Z, that drives the upperroll, h. The driving-cylinder a is placed and boxed at a convenientposition back of the back post, and has the two pulley-wheels V on itwhich drive the pulleys V on rolljournals. It also has an eccentricwheel, I), surrounded by a strap, (1, of metal, going off to an arm, 1*,and turned at right angles or bent at d' to fit in the holes of the arm1' orlev or that puts the hopper a; in motion by the revolving motion ofthe eccentric b. The hopper 00 is of wood or iron, about seven inchesbroad, and has pins or teeth on of metal at a convenient angle andlength to feed the rolls and brush close enough to take away the seedand surplus cotton from the rolls H h. This hopper or feeder w issustained by gndgeons a and boxed on the journal-rails, and has a lever,0', extending from one of the gudgeons to receive the crook or bent endof the eccentric-shaft. All the gudgeons, journals, and cylinders areboxed and capped at any convenient position, reference being had to therolls and the line upon which they are established.

A crank, z, or pulley on the cylinder to may be used to put the machinein motion.

I do not claim the frame, gearing, rollers,

brushes, vibrating hopper, and fingers of the roller cotton-gin as new;but

' What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, in the beforedescribed improved roller cotton-gin, is-

1. The combination of the adjustable bearings or boxes 0 K and screws I,F, and G with the rollers H h and hinged caps M, for supporting,holding, and adjusting the rollers at the several points between theirends where said bearings are applied and are liable to wear, arrangedand operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth,by which the operator is enabled to obtain a parallelism of revolvingsurfaces however nn- 1 evenly the bearings may wear, the rollers beingmade to coincide by separate and independent serews and taps or wedges,or in any way by which thesame object may be attained. and by which therollers shall be made to produce equal pressure on the cotton-wool as-itpasses between them.

2. The combination of -the hinged caps M with the hinged plate N,forming the upper end bearings, and the. brush -block S and brushes S,arranged in such manner as to admit of their being raised from therolls.

WM. Y. LAYTON.

\Vitnesses:

WM. 1?. ELLIOT, A. E. H; JOHNSON.

